CATTLE FEEDING. 147 



Many experiments have been tried. By feeding dogs with per- 

 fectly lean meat it was found that from 42.1 gramnjcs to 42.7 

 grammes (about 1-10 lb.) of carbon were retained by the animals 

 daily. The nitrogen of the food was entirely accounted for by 

 excretions, while the carbon had, as fat, been deposited in the bodies 

 of the animals. 



The stud^' of cases of phosphorus poisoning have proved beyond a 

 reasonable doubt that albuminoids, by their decomposition, give rise 

 to fatty substances. The matter has been studied at the Physiolog- 

 ical Institute of Munich, where the fat found in a dog submitted to 

 slow phosjihorus poisoning could only be accounted for by assuming 

 that the albuminoids had been decomposed and furnished the ele- 

 ments for the formation of fat. 



The action of alkalies and ox^-dizing agents upon albuminoids 

 transforms them partly into fattj' bodies. It must, however, be 

 added, that though the question seems settled in favor of the theory 

 that fats are formed from albuminoids, yeb there are some scientists 

 who still consider the carbohydrates as fat producers, and it may be 

 that in some cases thej- do to some extent act as such. It seems 

 probable that the albuminoids decomposed in the body give rise to 

 the formation of fat, 51 parts being formed for every 100 of dry 

 albumin, which ma}' be ox^xiized in the natural processes, or else 

 deposited as fat in the organs, or used for the produc^tion of fat 

 globules of milk. 



In case the quantity of fat assimilated by an animal is greater 

 than that which could be accounted for by the decomposition of the 

 albuminoids, and the fat contained in the fodder, it becomes evident 

 that some other constituent than the albuminoids must by transform- 

 ation yield fattv substance. By a series of experiments made upon 

 milch cows, at Munich and at Hohenheim, it was found that all the 

 fat in the milk produced by thein could have been entirely furnished 

 by the fats and the decomposition of the albuminoids present in the 

 fodder used. At Mockern an experiment with cows gave a quantity 

 of milk-fats slightly larger than that which could have been furnished 

 b}' the fats and albuminoids of the fodder. This slight excess of fat 

 can be explained, by assuming that a part of the animal's own fat 

 was used in the formation of the fat globules of milk. The experi- 

 ment was not perfectly complete, and the over production of fatty 

 substance cannot be explained in this case with scientific exacti- 

 tude. 



